Scalped Mouse

Wow, I am tired of the hog waller. Back to anything else.

Girl Child rescued a mouse a couple nights ago. Its head was a mess, and it was very still. She tried to let it go in the yard, but came back sobbing because it started to struggle, so I set up a hospital for it.

We released it into the wild tonight (after it had a brief escape and recapture-by-cats). I took pictures before Ai the Mouse went on her way, because I could not fucking believe a mouse could be scalped and live, but she did.

Yucky but amazing picture of the Mouse of Steel here.

EDIT: Picture link fixed, I think.

This is the Part Where We Are Finished For Now

Part of the reason I quit comics was so I could make comics, not blog about it. This Saturday, Ironclad starts back up at Girlamatic.com and I'm still working on getting enough Rumble Girls:RLO to take it live.

I can't say this'll be my LAST POST EVAR on sexism in comics, I don't know. I can say that I feel like I've said enough for now, and the whole of that is a good start for the curious or women needing inspiration or courage.
Look for the posts tagged "hurt comics" or "quit comics" for my take on the subject of sexism in the field and medium, why I got out, and what I decided to do with my freedom.

Heidi McDonald wrote a long piece on the issue of sexism in comics. While, as usual, I differ with Heidi at various points (blogging about sexism in comics being a ghetto, whereas I see it as a focus), it's a thorough work and worth a read.

Let the record show that I take strong exception to Heidi's statement, "I'd hate to see [Lea Hernandez'] tremendous talents lost in a sea of victimhood."
Hey, me too, Heidi! THAT'S WHY I QUIT. I don't feel like a victim now. I sure felt like one before. I've held back a lot of what I thought for fear of alienating current or potential readers or employers by making them uncomfortable. But then, I took a big dose of Fuckitall, said what I've been thinking, out loud, for myself, and here we are.
I didn't quit in November thinking, "I'll drop the bomb on sexism in January, and I can really work the scandal to sell books for about four days."

I won't apologize for my public comics detox, nor am I going to have it on someone's else timetable. I've got twenty years of shit to process, and I don't have to worry that it's going to ruin my career. My having a public face doesn't require that you like what I have to say, nor my censoring it for your comfort level. As some bloggers have advised about All-Star Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder (the source of the Vicki Vale ass panel that was the meteor on the grass fire), if you don't like it, don't read it.

I'm glad what I did has got people talking about the issue of sexism in the comics field. As I've said before, I know it's worse in other fields. That doesn't make what's happened in comics any less. It matters to me that in this field sexism stunts growth, and silences voices; as people, mainly women, who might've stayed in leave, or women who've stayed in are marginalized.
Statements like "it's everywhere" normalize sexism. I say stop treating it like it's normal, and treat it like the aberrant behavior it is.

And treat an outspoken woman as normal instead of aberrant.